An Earl’s Home Is Your Castle

“I’m like the Earl of Grafton in Downton Abbey, but I’m real,” says 46-year-old John Crichton, the Earl of Erne/Baron of Fermanagh, whose father was King George VI’s godchild. The seventh-generation Lord Erne lives at Crom Castle, his 350-year-old ancestral home, which occupies 2,200 parkland acres in Northern Ireland’s Lake District.

Maintaining such a residence isn’t inexpensive, which may explain why many castle owners, including this one, make them available for film crews, weddings, and vacation rentals. Be that as it may, Lord Erne has recently begun offering a more unusual proposition, one that lets guests experience not just his home but his daily life: for all-inclusive nightly prices starting at £950 per person, he invites guests to join him in his activities and also make requests. He might escort you on a lake excursion in his longboat or bring you along for tea with his cousins, the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn. He will give you a tour of the castle and gardens, chat with you over cocktails in the drawing room, and lead you to a candlelit dinner followed by a ceilidh (social event) or a visit to Blakes of “the Hollow,” one of Ireland’s most famous pubs.

Lord Erne’s guests fly into Belfast or Dublin—or to St. Angelo Airport in nearby Enniskillen, which can accommodate private jets—and stay in one of Castle Crom’s six bedrooms or two staterooms, all with ensuites. For more information, email [email protected], call +44 028 677 38004 or visit cromcastle.com.